At today's Google I/O conference, the tech giant announced a number of cool new features for its market-dominating Android Operating System along with a special version of the recently introduced Samsung Galaxy S4.

Google will sell a fully unlocked version of the Galaxy S4 (complete with unlocked bootloader) and a completely stock version of Android. Being that this is a fully sanctioned Google device, you can expect prompt updates, something that isn't always the case when you have to deal directly with the device manufacturer.

Google's version of the Galaxy S4 will be available from the Play Store beginning June 26 at a price of $649. The device will come with 16GB of storage and will operate on either AT&T or T-Mobile's wireless LTE networks.

Moving on to Android, Android chief Sundar Pichai announced that the mobile operating system is on track to hit 900 million device activations for 2013. This compares to 100 million activations in 2011, and 400 activations in 2012. In addition, Picahai revealed that over 48 billion apps have been installed to date on Android devices (2.5 billion of which came within the last month).

Google is looking to go head-to-head against Apple's popular Game Center with its only gaming service: Google Play Game Services. The new Android gaming serve will features cloud game saves, achievements, matchmaking, and of course, leaderboards. Developers will not only be able to implement these features on Android devices, but also on iOS devices as well.

But the big news for developers is no doubt Android Studio (based on IntelliJ). This is a brand new development environment aimed at making developing apps easier for both tablets and smartphones. As developers tweak their code, they can see real-time changes to their apps. The Android Studio will also provide optimization tips, referral tracking, integration with Google's Analytics service, revenue graphs, and the ability to offer beta testing with staged rollouts.

Google also introduced a new subscription music service: Google Play Music All Access. Users can stream music on-demand at a price of $9.99/month. Those that choose to sign up before June 30 can get a slight discount to $7.99/month. If you just want to get your feet wet in the service, there is also a 30-day free trial.

Source: Google

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All welcome sacrifices for saving $300 (before the savings on service). We can't all be wealthy.

By sacrificing LTE I've literally cut my phone bill in half. I routinely pull over 6mbps and it's widely sufficient. My phone is from 2011 and I have not replaced the battery. The battery is fine. I admit I have a 64GB microSD, but only because I could. 32GB is a more-than-enough sweet spot for like 99% of people. 16GB probably covers 95%.

You forgot the other four or five benefits I listed. Also, you pay more for LTE?

Having a user-replaceable battery is more about not having to worry about whether or not you have access to a charger when you start running low on juice 8 hours into your day, which is a common issue for the kind of people this device is aimed at.

Speaking of the target market for this device, they certainly don't fall into your "95%" or "99%" categories. This is a device for those power users who truly want the best device on the market.

You only made four points and I mentioned them all. I pay $45 a month for what is essentially AT&T minus LTE. Verizon/AT&T is twice that. The coverage area of T-Mobile/Sprint is less than ideal.

Carrying around a battery is not easier than carrying around a USB cable. In fact, it's harder -- batteries don't keep. They're sensitive to heat, they're sensitive to cold, and they're sensitive to time. I have a charger at the office, at home, and in the car (in addition to the car charger). Totalled together they still cost less than just one battery (thanks Monoprice!) and they're more convenient as I don't have to turn my phone off to fix a low charge.

Not sure what the problem is. For those that can purchase the Nexus S4 at its price, then that's their choice. If you want cheaper with less features that's your choice. I think for a lot of people that were on the fence of the G4 will probably go with the Nexus S4 instead even for the $50 extra price tag. Hell, I would if I wanted a G4.

I bought the Nexus 4 for my daughter a couple of months ago, didn't really consider the G4 as price was a bit much but for those that can afford it, why not make the plunge.

Nothing wrong with choices, and I wouldn't begrudge others because they see more value in those additional features for the pricetag than you or I would.

What about the Note 2, that was something my younger daughter wanted instead of the hand me down Vibrant. The Note 2 looked very nice and reviews were very positive on it, I even gave my older daughter the option of the Note 2 or Nexus 4 but she chose N4.

It's nice to have many good devices to choose from as everybody has their personal preferences.

The Note 2 was basically just two more of the same cores. Quadcore doesn't interest me too much right now on phones, just superior cores. I was also really looking forward to having Google Experience hardware. Samsung is truly awful at supporting AOSP.

Not so much that it was a steal, it was just priced more like where all phones like it should be priced. An S4 costs $244 to make. It's only because fools put up with absolutely insane markups that allow unlocked S4s to be sold for $650-700.

Since I can't post a link because DT has this absolute ridiculous notion it's "spam" :

quote: Apple's iPhone 5 16GB costs roughly $168 to make, but you end up paying $649 The iPhone 5, it turns out, isn't that much more expensive to churn out than its iPhone 4S predecessor. It costs about $35 more per unit; the phone's new A6 processor accounting for the bulk of that at $28. That brings the total manufacturing cost of the least expensive iPhone 5: the 16GB, up to an estimated $167.50, according to UBM Tech Insights. It's a decent amount of money, for sure. But $168 feels like a mere drop in the bucket when you stack it up to the phone's retail value of $649. Talk about a markup. As Venture Beat points out, some of that dough does go back into Apple's operations and marketing funds, but at the end of the day, it still ends up amounting to one hell of a profit. Need proof? Well, just in the last quarter alone Apple brought in $8.8 billion in net income, all thanks to its loyal fans overlooking the company's steep price tags. And those folks have no intentions of jumping ship, as proven by iPhone 5 pre-orders selling out in 60 minutes flat on Friday. The most notable differences in the sixth-generation handset are its larger 4-inch display, thinner body and totally redesigned “Lightning” dock connector.

Fix this DT, it's getting realllllllllllly old that links are being detected as spam.

My point? My point is not to complain about the S4 specifically, my point is complaining about prices across the industry, allowable only because suckers are willing to pay them to have the latest cool, prestige device.

Way too expensive for a plastic phone that will be yesterday's news in a couple of months and used a year, perhaps 2 at the most with 0 resell value. At this price tablets and ultrabooks become attractive.